Lilee Systems teams up with Alstom and Cisco for PTC-related products

Lilee Systems and Alstom are joining forces to launch a new suite of interoperable Positive Train Control (PTC) products for rail lines.

Combining their respective expertise in advanced communications systems and rail signaling technologies, the two companies have developed an Interoperable Train Control (ITC) solution that offers the industry a Wayside Interface Unit with Systems Management Agent (SMA) functionality. The companies will unveil and demonstrate their new offering during the third annual PTC World Congress in Orlando, Fla.

The partners' joint PTC offering is built on Alstom's microWIU Wayside Interface Unit and addresses two fundamental priorities, safety and smart management of railroad's wayside signaling and train control equipment. Augmenting the microWIU with SMA, Systems Management Service (SMS) and Systems Management Gateway (SMG) capabilities allows rail system operators to monitor, configure, control, secure and update their installed train control equipment and assets using a fully-integrated communications network. This approach is said to improve and simplify management of railroads' ITC devices.

The joint offering is available immediately to rail operators in the U.S. and Canada.

Lilee Systems has also partnered up with Cisco to define, design and implement an end-to-end communication architecture for PTC systems. This joint effort aims to provide the rail industry with a solution to meet the mandate of the Rail Safety Improvement Act by the December 31, 2015 deadline.

According to the company, the centerpiece of this architecture is the TransAir 220MHz Software Defined Radio, backhaul routers and switches, the core network and a cloud computing platform. Each of these elements plays a key role in the communications structure where safety, performance and efficiency are critical.

Lilee Systems and Cisco say this combined solution helps systems integrators and rail transportation equipment vendors to address the strict PTC requirements, including those that relate to next-generation Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement Systems (ACSES), by focusing on the two companies' core competencies for locomotive, wayside communications and back office communications networks. By working together, Lilee Systems and Cisco plan to allow rail customers to source a complete communications solution from a single provider.